Ready to Invest: Top 10 Cities with Dirt Cheap Housing

Investing to create passive income will help you achieve your dreams with the extra money in your pocket. Take a look at these top 10 cities that your dollar goes for miles.

1) Youngstown, Ohio. Median price: $55,400

2) Lansing, Mich. Median price: $64,400

3) Toledo, Ohio. Median price: $64,900

4) South Bend, Ind. Median price: $68,700

5) Akron, Ohio. Median price: $74,900

6) Ocala Fla. Median price: $75,400

7) Dayton, Ohio. Median price: $78,000

8)Cumberland, Md. Median price: $80,700

9) Grand Rapids, Mich. Median price: $81,100

10) Decatur, Ill. Median price: $81,300

Contact us for a free market analysis 818-400-1664.

Full story: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/real_estate/1105/gallery.cheapest_housing_markets/index.html

Buy vs Rent?

Take a look at this article to help you decide. This is the best time to buy no matter where you live. Give us a call for a free consultation:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- For the first time in years, buying a home may beat renting.

Two factors are at play, according to researchers who recently crunched the numbers, Ken Johnson of Florida International University and Eli Beracha of East Carolina University for a paper to be published in Real Estate Economics.

First, rents, though mostly stagnant the past few years, are expected to head higher as more people bitten by the housing bust turn to renting. Rents could rise 7% in each of the next two years, according to Peggy Alford, president of Rent.com.

Second, home prices have finally dropped enough to create a buying opportunity. Nationally, prices are down 32% from their peak, set in 2006.

The net result is that home price gains would need to average only 3.25% annually to beat renting, according to Beracha and Johnson. To make the math work, you have to stay in the home for at least eight years. Beracha and Johnson compared the cost of owning with the cost of renting.

Full Story: http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/13/real_estate/rent_not_buy/index.htm

Foreclosure is not an option!

If you can’t afford your mortgage, the last thing you want is a foreclosure because:
-you not only lose your home;
-you lose your credit, too.
There is no upside to foreclosure and it should be avoided at all costs.

NOT-SO-GOOD-NEWS:

-6.9 million properties are still more than 30 days late, or in foreclosure.
-4.4 million of those are more than 60 days late.
-Only 1 in 4 Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) loan modifications even make it to trial stage-less than 10% succeed. This would be 3.5% success ratio because 65% of the approved loan mods end up in default after 3 months.

GOOD NEWS:

If you’re facing foreclosure, you need to know that:
-Short sale is a much better alternative.
-Lessens the blow to your credit.
-You owe less with a short sale than you would with a foreclosure.
-Your property is sold to a third party for less than the amount owed on your loan.
-Your lender agrees to accept the sale price as payment in full.

MORE GOOD NEWS:

We will take care of the entire short sale process for you:
-We act on your behalf.
-We negotiate with your lenders to come to an agreement on the dollar amount that allows your lenders to be paid and to divest yourself of your home.
Contact us to help you discuss your options. YOU DO HAVE OPTIONS!!!
We are aggressive, knowledgeable, and experienced. Exercise your options.

Today's Real Estate Market a 'Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity'

Greg Rand, a 20-year real estate veteran and CEO of OwnAmerica, says now is the time to invest in real estate.

Rand compares the current market to the years following the Great Depression when market conditions sparked a boom that sustained 65 years of appreciation in real estate.
“This economic crisis, while similar to the Great Depression, is also unique in the way that the housing market played a central role,” Rand said. “It is true that this is a once-in-a-generation crisis. It is also true that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It’s time to focus on the other side of the coin.”
According to Rand, a little optimism can go a long way toward spurring real estate back to life.
“There is a very real economic force called irrational pessimism that is the cause of much economic hardship, not the effect,” he said.

“More people are unemployed because successful businesses are afraid to expand. More people are losing homes they can afford because they are underwater and believe their home will never appreciate again. People with job security are convinced they don’t have it and live in fear,” Rand explained.
He insists, “Irrational pessimism is one reason why today’s situation runs so parallel to the Great Depression.”
Rand contends there is no housing meltdown. Rather, there was a media and Wall Street meltdown centered on a predictable housing correction.
The real estate market changes hourly, he says, and investing in real estate is a matter of watching the trends.
“It comes down to the idea that no matter how the markets change, no matter which way the winds shift, people will always need a place to live,” Rand said. “That’s been true of America since the first log cabin.

“If you plug into that concept and leave fear in a box on the shelf, you can be ahead of the curve and ride the wave of the trends that matter,” according to Rand.
OwnAmerica is a Web-based resource for real estate investors and investment advisors headquartered in New York.
Rand is also on WABC Radio, a regular commentator on the Fox Business network, a columnist for Real Estate magazine, and author of the book “Crash-Boom” from Career Press.


For more info: http://www.dsnews.com/articles/todays-real-estate-market-once-in-a-generation-opportunity-2011-04-21

It's a Buyer Market: Start to Buy/Invest

Distressed homes – typically REOs and short sales – accounted for 40 percent of the existing homes sold in March, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Wednesday.

The trade group notes that these properties generally sell at discounts in the vicinity of 20 percent. Their large market share served to dampen the median existing-home price....

Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, expects the improving sales pattern to continue.
“Existing-home sales have risen in six of the past eight months, so we’re clearly on a recovery path,” he said. “With rising jobs and excellent affordability conditions, we project moderate improvements into 2012, but not every month will show a gain – primarily because some buyers are finding it too difficult to obtain a mortgage....

All-cash sales were at a record market share of 35 percent last month, up from 33 percent in February and 27 percent in March 2010.
Investors accounted for 22 percent of sales activity in March, up from 19 percent both the month before and a year earlier.

For full story: http://www.dsnews.com/articles/distressed-properties-claim-40-of-existing-home-sales-2011-04-20

Buyer Incentives are BACK!!!!

Fannie Mae is once again offering closing-cost assistance for buyers who close on a home in the mortgage giant's real-estate owned (REO) inventory, but in most states will not bring back cash bonuses it previously paid to buyers' agents.

Buyers who put in initial offers on or after April 11, and close on the sale of a Fannie Mae HomePath property by June 30, will be eligible to receive up to 3.5 percent in closing-cost assistance.

The offer is only good for buyers who intend to occupy the home they are purchasing as their primary residence -- second homes and investor properties are not eligible.

Offers submitted before May 15 have the best chance of qualifying, Fannie Mae said, as offers submitted after that "are particularly questionable for closing" by the June 30 deadline.

For full report: http://www.inman.com/news/2011/04/12/fannie-mae-brings-back-reo-buyer-incentives

Time Your Purchase for 2011

Freddie Mac forecasts a 5 percent increase in 2011 home sales over 2010, according to its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for April.
The report also contends that refinancing will likely account for a smaller share of loan applications later this year as wealthy borrowers decrease and mortgage rates increase.

“Expect to see a bit of spring in homes sales activity during the second quarter,” said Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist at McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac.
Nothaft continued, “Sales contract signings for existing homes were up in February, positioning the market for a bounce up going into the traditional home-buying season.”
The expected pick-up in home sales is due to recent positive employment reports, the Market Outlook reveals. Unemployment declined for the fourth straight month to 8.8 percent, and net employment increased by 216,000 jobs. Real estate employment was up by 10,000 jobs since last November.
The report also calculates that the share of adjustable-rate mortgage loans will be 7 percent in 2011 compared to the 5 percent 2010 average.
Freddie Mac compiles data on major economic and housing and mortgage market indicators and offers forecasts based on those indicators.

For more info: http://www.dsnews.com/articles/freddie-mac-market-outlook-predicts-an-increase-in-home-sales-2011-04-15